Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-09-24
HOOKING 4 TROUT.
A Vivid Description of an Experience
Dear to an Anglers Heart.


An eloquent disciple of old Izaak Wal
ton thus describes in the american Anqler
a big trouts fight for life:
After fifteen minutes wading | heard
the roar Of Il cataract-an unusually good
sized one, | Judged, by the roar of the wa
tiers. Presently came in sight of it. 1t
was a magnificent fall of full twenty feet.
the waters leaping down a sheer face of
rock and plunging into basin ten or
twelve feet in width. There was a dense
growth Of spruce about the pool, and hem
lock and spruce, with stunted underground.
hung over the edge of the precipitous rock.
1t was Il romantic spot, dark, overshadowed
and cool. As | approached the basin eau
tiously and prepared to make east, | said
to myself, "There is the very hole for a
monster trout" With extreme care
made my preparation, selecting the exact
spot where | would cast, and got every
thing in readiness in case there should be
rise.
There was rise have never seen Il
lure taken by brook trout so magnifi-
Gently. The fly had not even as vet
touched the dark surface of the pond when
there was fash like CLEAN Of light, and
a superb trout broke the surface, making
that indescribabiy graceful arch which
every angler can so wildly picture to him
sell, and seized the fly as it settled on the
water. was struck almost instantaneouslv
with the appearance of the trout, and none
too quick, so rapid was the rise.
Then ensped a battle in the forest-a
struggle fifty framed in BY the dark spruce
and the somber hemlocks The trout made
rush for the depths of the pool, and !
prudently let him have all the line / had
to spare. The reel buzzed quite sharply
for moment, then there came little slack.
which | took in immediately. For the
next half minute there was an exoectant
and significant pause on the part of both
the trout and myself. But not for long.
took a step forward, and there was rush
up through the crystal basin that | fairly
heard above the roar Of the waterfall.
Cutting the surface obliquely, the trout
leaped full two feet from the water. If
there had been sunlight in that dark nook
how his sides would have flashed! As it
was | could see the red nothing and the
silver CLEAN of the under5cales. The slack
ened tackle hung around him like a lot of
twisted wire. In mid-air the trout shook
himself; then he came down slap on the
water, and | thought surely my prize was
gone. ! expected nothing less than to find
that he had shaken the hook from his Jaws
But no! Rapidly reeling in the silk
found the hook still held fast | had struck
hard and the barbed tip was well seated.
Then the trout made the pool boil. How
he flashed around it, and how the line cut
the water like a withdrawing knife.
kept a taut line for / knew that such
tactics as these would prove more destruct-
i've to the strength of the fish than to my
tackle. The trout seem to realize this, too.
after time, for he ceased his furious and
purposeless struggles and began to sulk.
This | knew was the critical time-or
rather the eve of the critical time-and
made ready for the quick maneuver that
was sure to follow. 1t came with a sudden
ness that almost spoiled my calculations
Instead of shooting perpendicularly to the
surface, as | expected, the trout darted
straight at me, keeping at n considerable
depth. l had but little line out, and the
tip of my rod bent like the letter c. All
this TRANSFERRED in about half second of
time, and if | had not had presence of
mind enough to lower the point of the rod
| doubt if even Chubb's lancewood would
| have stood the strain. At the lowering of
| the tip, however, and the paying out of
more line the trout changed his tactics.
Now 1t was that he darted to the surface
with the speed of a rocket, and flinging
himself with all his strength from the
water, made a last grand effort to shake
the hook from his Jaws. Ii it mad not
been deeply imbedded in the gristle it GER
tainly would not have held, for better
| executed maneuver | never saw on the
| part of any game fish. But when quickly
reeled in my slack and found that the hook
was still held fast | knew that the trout
was mine. Il was only question of time.
Ny heart gave great bound of exultation
ut this discovery, for if | ever arclently
desired to possess 4 trout it was the mon
arch of that pool.
My victim now became reckless and
dashed the water violently, anon darling
around the basin and using M his
streagth in the nost reckless manner.
| PRETTY soon he became so exhausted that
he lay still near the center of the pool
and as the water Gained | could see the
magnificent fellow outlined against the
graYeliv bottom He locked fully a foot
long-and this is a moderate statement for
fisherman TO make Tibse was when |
shotld Have sliu Two iSSt anu nan III
least. But | was less experienced then
and also less veracious.
Gradually | coaxed the tired trout to-
ward the edge of the basin. He made no
fight, simply hung back and paddled
feebly with his fms Kneeling down at
the edge of the water, with rod held high
above my head and as far back as I could
reach, / slowly dipped my landing net.
and before my victim knew it The meshes